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"The Omni Parker House is a historic hotel in Boston, Massachusetts built in 1927. The original Parker House Hotel on the site opened in 1855. Founder Harvey D. Parker ran the hotel until his death in 1884, when the business passed on to his partners. Omni Parker House, Boston is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation...
Opened in 1855 by Harvey D. Parker and located on School Street near the corner of Tremont, not far from the seat of the Massachusetts state government, it has long been a rendezvous for politicians.
The hotel was home to the Saturday Club, which met on the third Saturday of every month except in summer. It included literary luminaries such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and John Lothrop Motley.
Charles Dickens resided in the Parker House for five months in 1867-68 in his own apartments and first recited and performed "A Christmas Carol" at the Saturday Club at the Parker House. The Parker House currently holds possession of Charles Dickens lock and key to his apartment door and also his mirror.
The hotel introduced to America what became known as the European Plan. Prior to that time, American hotels had included meals in the cost of a room, and only offered them at set times. The Parker House charged only for the room, with meals charged separately and offered whenever the guest chose.
Actor John Wilkes Booth stayed at the hotel April 5–6, 1865, ten days before assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He was apparently in Boston to see his brother, actor Edwin Booth, who was performing there. While in Boston, Booth was seen practicing at a firing range near the Parker House.
The Parker House perfected Massachusetts’ state dessert, Boston cream pie, invented the Parker House roll; and coined the term "scrod".
Jacques Offenbach stayed at the hotel during an 1876 tour of the US, and inspired by the rolls, sang a tune to friends as a joke. He would later use it as a theme in his opera The Tales of Hoffman.
20th century
The original Parker House building and later architectural additions were demolished in the 1920s and replaced with an entirely new building. "Four of the five buildings Harvey D. Parker built between 1854 and 1866 were demolished in 1926 by the Wittle Hotel Co., which purchased the property from Parker that year." One wing of the original hotel remained open until the new building was completed in 1927.
John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for Congress at the Parker House in 1946 and also held his bachelor party in the hotel's Press Room there in 1953.
The hotel was bought by Dunfey Hotels in 1968. In 1983 that chain bought Omni Hotels and reorganized itself, with the Dunfey name phased out and the Parker House placed in the Omni division.
21st century
The hotel currently has 551 rooms and suites. In 2009, AAA named the hotel one of the top 10 historic U.S. hotels. It is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America program.
Famous workers
Ho Chi Minh worked as a baker at the hotel from 1911 to 1913. Malcolm X, then going by the name Malcolm Little, worked as a busboy at the hotel in the 1940s."
One sign on the building adds:
"Omni Hotel
The Parker House
1630 - 1673
Zacheus Bosworth, Captain Thomas Clarke and
Lieutenant Richard Cooke dwelt here on School House Lane.
1704
John Mico built a mansion on this site which was
occupied in turn by Colonel Jacob Wendall, Governor Moses
Gill and the Boylston Family.
1854 - 1886
Harvey D. Parker bought a lot west of the School House Lane
and built the original Parker House Restaurant and Hotel
on the site of this mansion. The success of the Parker House began
a program of improvement and enlargement from 1860 -1886.
1927
J.R. Whipple Corporation erected this building while
continuing to operate the 1886 Annex.
1968 - 1983
The Dunfey Family acquired the Parker House
and embarked upon a significant restoration program.
The hotel was re-established as the Omni Parker House.
1996
TRT Holdings, Inc. purchased the Omni Hotel chain and initiated
an extensive restoration to restore the Omni Parker House to its
original grandeur. The Omni Parker House remains the longest
continuously operating hotel in the United States."
and another sign at the site reads:
"The Parker House
One of Boston's luxury hotels by innovative hosteller Harvey Parker has been operating on this site since 1856. Parker introduced the European Plan, started the practice of serving meals continuously, and coined the term scrod, the fresh white fish catch of the day. The fabled Parker House Roll and the Boston Cream Pie originated here.
Among the illustrious patrons of the Parker House were Charles Dickens, Ulysses S. Grant and John F. Kennedy. The members of the Saturday Club, a group of leading 19th century authors including Emerson, Lowell and Longfellow, gathered here.
-The Bostonian Society-"
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